Brad and Heather take a bite of the Big Apple

We recently were privileged to attend the "Be Encouraged" conference at the Brooklyn Tabernacle with our friends JT and Lindsay Shaw.  Our wonderful church family treated us to the conference and trip as a gift for Clergy Appreciation.  Having never been to New York City, we decided to take in some famous NYC hot spots as well as some (not so famous, but truly NYC style) eateries like "Big Nick's" on Broadway and 77th St.  In addition to the conference we walked Central Park, went down to Time Square, visited the 9/11 Memorial site/fountains, saw Mary Poppins on Broadway, went to see the Statue of Liberty, and woke up early the last day before our flight left to catch a taping of the Today Show and a number by the Rockettes from their Christmas Spectacular show.  It was a very full few days, but we enjoyed tons of interesting things to see and do.  And these were just the "in our spare time" escapades.  I will include some pictures of these adventures.

Central Park is absolutely beautiful!  If I lived in NYC I think I would have to be there all the time for my sanity.

I couldn't get that song, "Danke Shoen"  out of my head...I kept thinking (and singing) the lines, "I recall...Central Park in fall" Brad was probably annoyed :-) Did you know he almost didn't take me out for a second date because I sing too much?..la la la...this is a true story.

Ah, but love conquers all...I think there is even a song or two about that :-) Here we are almost 10 years later.

We visited Central Park during that perfect time of evening when the sun hits the tops of the trees and shows them in their brilliance!  Love that! Then, later that evening, we headed to Time Square to see it all lit up and check out some shops.  It was extremely crowded as many tourists were Christmas shopping.

Our friends, JT and Lindsay...it was such a blessing to have them with us on the trip.

Sunday morning we took a little trip out to see the Statue of Liberty.  On the boat ride over I went out to the front of the boat to try to get some good pictures of Lady Liberty as we approached from the harbor and it was so windy my eyes started watering...when I went back in to join Brad and our friends they thought I had become emotional over seeing the Statue.  I admit I am extremely emotional, but at that moment it was just the wind in my face making me tear up. I promise.  I had a good laugh over that, but later, true to form, I had a good cry on Ellis Island while listening to the audio stories of the Immigrants who came to America and how they felt when they finally saw Lady Liberty and could just about taste their freedom.  Here are a few pictures from that excursion.

I was worried that with my little camera I wouldn't get a great picture of Lady Liberty, but she is so photogenic :-)  I had a hard time picking my favorite pic because I liked them all!

I loved the detail in the architecture on Ellis Island, so I had to take this picture out a window on the staircase.

This was the registration room for the Immigrants that arrived to Ellis Island.

After this, we attended a powerful worship service at the Brooklyn Tabernacle.  Their choir had a mini-concert for all the attendees of the conference.  Later that evening, we went to see Mary Poppins on Broadway.

The other "side trip" we had planned was to visit the 9/11 Memorial Fountains.  We did that on Monday evening.  I knew that would be quite a sobering and deeply moving experience. The fountains encompass the whole foundation of where each tower used to stand, so they are enormous and all the way around each fountain are inscribed the names of the individuals who perished in the attacks.  Here are a couple photos of Brad and I at the fountains. 

To sum up...We are so thankful we had the opportunity to go...to be so uplifted by the conference, to hear from God through Ravi Z, Francis Chan, and Jim Cymbala, and to have some great experiences as a couple and with our good friends JT and Lindsay.  I am still processing some things I heard at the conference and asking God to use these things to transform me, energize me, and use me for His glory.  Thank you again, Village Hope Church, for sending us to this conference!